We sent out the same 20 questions to 50
manufacturers, the following are their responses. The intent of the survey is to
address basic questions as to design along with any questions raging on various
sites, while minimizing potential chest-thumping and friendly, or unfriendly,
bashing of others....

PFO Why do cables make a difference?
Interconnects, speaker, and AC cords?

Stereovox Everything that a signal must pass
through will be affected by that signal and, in turn, affect that signal. By
"signal" I mean to say an organized impulse (or impulses) of electrical current
and voltage excited in a wire. RE: "Making a difference": To what degree this is
noticeable is and always has been a matter of intense debate within our
industry. But the fact remains that no such electrical impulse can travel
without a medium, and within that medium there is a continuum of
inter-affectivity between the signal and the medium.

PFO What about metals....copper versus silver
versus gold versus what? What about blends?

SV There is no silver-bullet theory that
works to satisfaction. It's sexy to tout "pure silver" or "pure gold" or
"umpteen nines pure copper"—but in reality this kind of silver bullet commodity
marketing has little to do with the actuality of the design. The performance
value of metals, for instance, are not necessarily distinguished by their
hyper-purity or atomic number alone but are as affected by their temper, their
gauge, and their shape.

PFO What about dielectrics... Teflon versus
what?

SV Dielectrics are an intimate part of the
continuum: the medium, as combined with the metal wire itself. They impart
various characteristics, from the basic capacitive elements to piezoelectric/triboelectric
effects that might be excited in reaction to the electrostatic fields surging
through them. There is no perfect dielectric, but rather there are choices to be
made depending upon what outcome a designer requires.

PFO What about no dielectric?

SV No such thing.

PFO What about measurements... what do they
tell us? What do they not tell us?

SV Measurements can tell us the basics,
helping to collect data from which to hopefully derive more concrete theories
about why audio cables can affect the signal in ways that listeners notice. But
measurements so far have failed to help us establish a predictability-curve for
cable design except in cases of extreme electrical characteristics. It is
impossible, for instance, to use electrical measurement apparatuses to garner
any useful knowledge about the difference between two cables that are otherwise
exactly alike except for the temper of their conductors. And yet temper is
important.

PFO What about connectors... how important?

SV Without them you would have a hard time
getting the signal out of one thing and into another, thus – important. I
personally believe that the connector has the greatest potential for screwing
things up, so I decided to partner with Stuart Marcus of Vampire Wire to create
Xhadow connectors. A connector cannot improve your cable—but a proper connector
properly terminated can help to make it as good as it is. That's about all you
can ask from connectors.

PFO Why this geometry... ribbon, twisted,
braded, spiraled...?

SV Elements of design meant to shape and
otherwise manipulate electrostatic and electromagnetic fields interacting with
each other and with the media within which they travel.

SV Shielding both protects the signal wire
from interference from outside sources as well as prevents leakage of the signal
to areas outside the cable. Shielding recommends itself in some cases, not
necessarily in others. I like to think of shielding like the roof in a
convertible: it's nice to have it in place once it starts raining. Given the
overactive radio-infected electronic environments we tend to live in, it would
seem like it's always raining.

PFO What about run-in? Why is/isn't it
important?

SV Cables seem to take time to "settle" in to
a system. I have no measured data that explain the process. Others have put
forth the "capacitor forming" analogy, which is only a quasi-analogy as a length
of wire can be successfully modeled as a capacitor (or a resistor or an
inductor). It seems generally accepted that "break-in" occurs with cables, and
it is also generally accepted that no one knows exactly why. That includes me.

PFO What about lengths? Why are/aren't they
important?

SV Basic rule: Long interconnects, short
speaker cables. The essential reason stemmed from the notion that the series
resistance of a speaker cable over a long length can adversely affect the
ability of an amplifier to properly damp the momentum of a woofer in motion.
Long interconnects are not so adversely affected by the series resistance, but
in cables with capacitance or inductance features that are not "middle of the
road" there may be potential for the interconnect to affect the signal in the
same way a high-pass or low-pass filter might work. That seems unlikely given
the design of most cables in the market, but there will always be that stray
product from a "revolutionary" thinker that will cause a problem in extreme
lengths.

PFO What is directionality?

SV Signals traveling in an audio system, be
they analog or digital, are AC signals. Alternating current "goes both ways" in
a conductor: the positive-going half of the signal propagates a field toward the
load, while the negative-going half of the signal propagates it toward the
source. Ebb and flow. If you think of it like a piston in an engine it
illustrates well: you cannot have a "directional" piston—it must move as easily
back and forth in order to do its work. If it moves more easily back than forth,
it is to some degree broken.

So it is with an AC signal. If it works better in
one direction than the other—check the connectors and joints before you proclaim
directionality. I know this is an unpopular position to take. Call me a
curmudgeon.

PFO How did you get into this?

SV I missed a left turn at Albuquerque—the
rest is history.

PFO What is your fundamental design
philosophy/goal?

SV Design simply, elegantly, and refine
refine refine.

PFO Why these?

SV Simplicity is the essence of elegance, and
elegance is simply a word that expresses (for me) the essence of a whole and
complete answer.

PFO How do you approach accomplishing those
philosophies/goals?

SV Staring. Sometimes rubbing my temples
works.

PFO How successful do you feel you have been
at achieving the goals that you have set for yourself?

SV I'm fairly satisfied with the progressive
evolution of my designs. I've been refining these ideas for almost 15 years and
I still find small areas to tweak.

PFO How do you plan to push beyond what you
have already accomplished?